To think nursing is not considered a 'profession' by the general public

[roseability]

We just mop up sick and wipe brows and all that

Do people really consider the nursing profession as 'educated' and on a par with other degree trained professions?

Or should nurses be defined as 'caring' principally, not allowing aspiartions of status to undermine this ideal?

What do doctors really think of nurses?

Just interested

hubarb, agree with you about the blurring of roles in menatl health, my job as a senior practitioner in CAMHS is very much like that of a regsitrar bar prescribing ( although I do research and recommend when to give meds and in what dose etc). I also do specific therapeutic interventions around risk assessment, emotional management and CBT/PSI.

We risk assess as independent practitioners as you do but for under 16s on the paed ward. Often complex and socially "messy". Also teach SHOs and med students. I'm not so sure whther there's such a blurring of roles in other branches however.

I feel our professionalism is being eroded by allowing individuals who aren't up to it into the profession and sloppy training and preparation during the student years.

I think nurses get a pretty raw deal.

Nurse practitioners/first contact nurses/emergency nurses practitioners/specialist nurses (including specialist practice nurses) can assess, plan, treat, implement and evaluate a patient's needs independently (and that includes prescribing, minor surgery, endoscopies, angioplasties, broken bones, managing chronic diseases, and "caring".

Different types of nurses with different experience, additional qualifications and skills are required for different roles/situations. That means that unless you have needed a more specialist care you can very easily underestimate what being a nurse entails.

Unfortunately like in all professions, being classed as a profession does not mean you have a professional attitude.

Also like in most professions/jobs the public view/perception of what you do is generally underestimated/not understood.

The classification of professions is outdated and needs a overhaul if as a women i'm automatically classed in the same category as my husband.

gender equality has a massive role to play in the general "standing" of nursing.

IMHO entry standards had to be lowered to encourage/allow people to come into nursing and sort out the unbelievable shortages. Unfortunately no one listened to nurses when they voiced concerns as to how you're supposed to still be able to do you job on a day to day basis and teach at the same time as doing the work 2 people should have done.

Nursing is a profession but i think the powers that feel better if people think it isn't as it means they can get away with paying nurses like dirt.

Sorry for the long post.

Also don't assume that just because a nurse works in intensive care you have studied more than a practice nurse!

They both have studied incredibly hard in a range on subjects to be able to deliver the best evidence based care for their patients.

Sure you can start off working in both areas a junior nurse without the additional qualifications but if you want to progress and develop your role and increase your responsibility you'll have to study further.

Nurses working in general practice are delivering most of the contract between the GP and the primary care trust (ie what gets everyone in the surgery paid) but get very little recognition (and pay!) for it.

Sorry to keep going on but they manage most chronic conditions (asthma, diabetes, COPD, coronary heart disease for ex) independently in addition to more traditional duties (contraception, sexual health, health promotion, healthy living, wound care, immunisations, taking bloods, etc) and have to study accordingly to be able to do so.

Don;t know the ins and out of what an intensive care nurse does but am sure it's equally challenging and rewarding.

I'd trust a nurses professional opinion over a doctors any day of the week.

Like other professions, nurses are accountable for their actions, have to prove thrmselves competant and up-to-date to stay on the register and can be struck off.

I think it didnt used to be considered a profession but it is now. I certainly would consider Nursing a Profession. Alongside teaching etc. A Vocational Profession.

What about Social Workers? Is that a Profession? I am interested as I am thinking about training to become one.

Social Workers are damned if they do and damned if they don't seems a thankless job to me.

Would it be considered unprofessional not to resusitate the next lawyer I find collapsed?